Lourdes Looking Forward to Inaugural Year

UPDATE (3/3): Due to cold and snowy conditions in Northwest Ohio, both the Lourdes University men’s and women’s lacrosse teams have schedule changes for this week. The Gray Wolves men will open their inaugural campaign on Friday night (March 7) instead of Saturday afternoon, moving indoors to Detroit Country Day School in Beverly Hills, Mich. Lourdes will face Oakland beginning at 9 p.m.

The 2014 season of men’s lacrosse is set to begin for Lourdes University. The Gray Wolves will play 13 games as part of the inaugural campaign which is slated to begin on Saturday, March 8.

Starting Saturday March 8th, the Lourdes Grey Wolves will be taking the field as Ohio’s newest college lacrosse team. Joining the MCLA’s CCLA D2, the Sylvania based college will be boasting a Toledo, Ohio heavy roster.

Putting together a team featuring 22 players, including 11 freshmen, was a big task for head coach Patrick Yannarelli. Yannarelliwaspreviously the head coach at Butler High School in Matthews, N.C. since 2010 and prior to Butler, he spent two seasons at Morrisville State College in New York and he began his coaching career at the College of Mount Saint Vincent in 2002, helping to start the first NCAA Division III lacrosse program in Bronx, N.Y.

The captains: Bischel (7), Hollinger (99), Yoshino (3)

We’re very excited to get the ball rolling in our first season,” Yannarelli stated. “We’re looking to be competitive in the MCLA and see where we fit in from the beginning.”

Junior co-captain Joe Hollinger and freshman Connor Mishler have been battling for the goalie position, with both continuing to learn the position at the collegiate level throughout the preseason and jockeying for the starting job between the pipes.

The Grey Wolves are boasting a proud list of young men to anchor the defense this season. Damian Greisiger, a vocal leader, joins Jay Fisher, a hard-working high pace defender. The duo were team mates at Sylvania Southview High School in Ohio during their high school career. The trio is completed by Kyle Bertsch, who will be called upon to guard the opponent’s top attackman.

Midfielder Dylan Gill, Concordia (WI) transfer, is being called upon to initiate the Lourdes offense from up top and in transition, he will also take face-offs for the Gray Wolves. Josh Hollinger and Tony DiMartini, a pair of local products, are also staples to the midfield line.

Danny Bichsel, a transfer from Wheeling Jesuit, is a strong inside attackman who will act as a team leader. Joining Bischel in the offense is freshman Jared Yoshino, another Sylvania Southview grad. Yoshino is known for his quickness from X and will be looked upon as a feeder and a finisher.

The Gray Wolves host Oakland on March 8th to kick off their very first season at home. Lourdes have six home games, in which the outdoor contests will be played at Central Catholic High School and Ottawa Hills High School.

Their in-conference CCLA South schedule opens April 5 against Carnegie Mellon and concludes April 19 against Lawrence Tech in a Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference contest.

We are excited to see how Lourdes do in their first season in the MCLA, being an Ohio guy, they are on my radar.

The key for the Gray Wolves may lie in how quickly the team can gel with all of the newcomers adjusting to the collegiate game.